On Somme

Suddenly into the still air burst thudding And thudding and cold fear possessed me all, On the gray slopes there, where Winter in sullen brooding Hung between height and depth of the ugly fall Of Heaven to earth; and the thudding was illness own. But still a hope I kept that were we there going over I; in the line, I should not fail, but take recover From others courage, and not as coward be known. No flame we saw, the noise and the dread alone Was battle to us; men were enduring there such And such things, in wire tangled, to shatters blown. Courage kept, but ready to vanish at first touch. Fear, but just held. Poets were luckier once In the hot fray swallowed and some magnificence